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That looked amazing, such lovely painted armies.

I think a Gryphon would be great for the army, Wehrkind! Certainly feels like you could go with one less Argus - although the sheer number of them is what kept me jammed up so long (on the right side of the board in particular).

Looking forward to our next game

<3

My babies look so nice all on the board... Nice to see they get along with the neighbors

Better luck next time, Tides! But at least you got to play against another gorgeous painted army!

Thanks for the Batrep and pictures

Those gators do look damned nice. I need to step up my painting game... the Bokor was distracting me all game... showing me those little teethy grins. Tease.

Thanks again for RiTides remembering to bring a camera/take pictures/post pictures. And choosing the venue (even if he couldn't find it). And bringing the terrain... What the hell was I there for?

Not dead yet!

...but it was close there for a bit. Damned near a month of everyone having the same cold. Still, afterwards I got some time to put some things together, and it seemed like a good time to do a huge conversion project on the Wold Wrath. Because I might play Baldur 2 sometime.

The main idea for the conversion was to swap him from being a hunched, murder gorilla to a more erect, contemplating murder gorilla. I cut the torso in the middle and spun the bottom 180 degrees to give it more of an erect posture, then cut the hell out of the arms and shoulders to rebuild them such that he was looking at his fingers while striding. Not because he is thinking "what's that smell?" Rather, I am sculpting some birds, squirrels and a handful of kodama to perch on various outcroppings, with the big guy looking at some of the critters playing on his fingers. A bit of a homage to Hayao Miyazaki.

So, after some base coating with the airbrush, I took the bits out for a coat of Dullcote. The paint kept rubbing off, because every part is really bloody heavy.
Also, a Pureblood and Tanith for a Journeyman league.


Also, I put together a Sacral Vault the other day, although the gators are still separate, along with most of the bling. The thing looks too busy stock, so I am going to be a little more picky in how much stuff I put on it.


Well, that's all the pictures for now! I am also working on a scratch build Grayle model with lot of sculpting, which has been a lot more fun than I had expected. So hopefully more pictures to come in the next few weeks as I go through the journeyman league and finish up some of these projects.

Love the big guy, and the vault is probably almost as big!? Will be especially awesome once you have the critters in his hand to be looking at, and moss all over

The Wold Wrath conversion is looking very impressive so far.

 Wehrkind wrote:
I am sculpting some birds, squirrels and a handful of kodama to perch on various outcroppings, with the big guy looking at some of the critters playing on his fingers. A bit of a homage to Hayao Miyazaki.

Great stuff

Excited to see you're still / back at it! You played Mk3 yet? I look forward to picking up the new Skorne book(s) and cards and giving the redux a shot, although I'm not quite inspired to paint more stuff red yet. Not with all the KOW plans I've put into motion

Anyway, dig it!

- Salvage

Salvage! RiTides and I did get in a game in last week, and well... apparently I forget how things work. None of the changes affected us too hard, except for the maddening changes to how concealment/elevation work (have to be completely within) It was a fun game with RiTides as always, just some really dumb mistakes on my part left me fighting uphill the rest of the game. For instance, when you are playing Morvahna with super recursion, taking the first hit then counter punching is plan. If Rask gets within 10" and feats to get the first strike, I don't need to try and kill everything. Letting Rask get the first strike IS THE PLAN! I have to admit, I am still a little angry about that... such a stupid mistake and it made the rest of the game so frustrating as I threw away two heavies. *sigh*
Though, goddamn, Arm 20 Skinwalkers are amazing balls.

I don't know what to make of Skorne in Mk3. Naaresh is looking better, but other stuff is odd. There is super gloom on the forum, some of which might be warranted, but it is still appealing to try.

Speaking of KoW, RiTides and I are going to throw some blocks on the table Thursday, so incoming faffle-report on that! I am pretty sure my army is terribad, but it should be fun all in all. I am just fairly certain that I don't know how to build lists for block games.

There is a Journeyman League at the store down the road starting this week, so hopefully I will be doing some more painting/building in the coming weeks. I hope to keep impressing GiraffeX Just gotta keep writing too :( So we'll see how it pans out.

 Wehrkind wrote:
Speaking of KoW, RiTides and I are going to throw some blocks on the table Thursday, so incoming faffle-report on that! I am pretty sure my army is terribad, but it should be fun all in all. I am just fairly certain that I don't know how to build lists for block games.

YESSSSSS, I await it. You using your Woad Crü as Varangrr? I am of course at your disposal should you need list help

Luck writing! Way to get gaming in as well. I no longer have the impending doom of having to write a book hanging over my head, and I find I struggle to find time to roll dice / flop cards

- Salvage

I am running them as Orks, oddly enough. I always find myself wanting to use Ork rules for Chaos lads, dunno why. Now that I don't have to use the 25mm bases for unit definition but can use cut movement trays, maybe I should take another look at the Varangur list.

-time passes-

Ok, so here's what I am coming up with, playing what I have around. Which is actually about infinite if I count things unpainted like the Reavers. The formatting will be weird; used http://kow2.easyarmy.com/ but I don't know how to get a text output...

Varangur (Evil)

Warband Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(40) 5 4+ - 4+ 25 21/23 180
Warband
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(40) 5 4+ - 4+ 25 21/23 180
Warband
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(40) 5 4+ - 4+ 25 21/23 180 Crushing Strength (1)
- Exchange shields for two-handed weapons (gain Crushing Strength (1), but lower Defence by 1) 0

Sons of Korgaan Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Regiment(20)5 3+ - 5+ 20 16/18 220 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (2)
Reavers Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(10) 6 4+ - 3+ 20 -/14 140 Thunderous Charge (2), Vicious

The Fallen Large Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(6)

8 3+ - 5+ 18 16/18 240 Crushing Strength (1), Height (1), Iron Resolve, Nimble, Pathfinders
Mounted Sons of Korgaan Cavalry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(5) 8 3+ - 5+ 10 13/15 165 Crushing Strength (1), Thunderous Charge (2)

Horse Raiders Cavalry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(5) 8 4+ 5+ 4+ 7 11/13 115 Nimble, Piercing (1), Throwing Weapons (Axes), Thunderous Charge (1)

Magus Hero (Inf)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 5 5+ - 5+ 1 11/13 85 Hero (Inf), Fireball (12), Individual, Lightning Bolt (4)
- Fireball (12) 25

Chieftan Hero (Inf)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 5 3+ - 5+ 5 14/16 160 Hero (Inf), Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (2), Elite, Individual, Inspiring

King on Chimera Hero (Mon)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 10 3+ - 5+ 10 18/20 310 Hero (Mon), Breath Attack (10), Crushing Strength (3), Elite, Fly, Inspiring


Seems like it might be fun. Probably better than the orcs, come to think of it. Their version is sort of similar:

Orcs (Evil)
Ax Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(40) 5 4+ - 5+ 25 20/22 205 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (1)
Horde(40) 5 4+ - 5+ 25 20/22 205 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (1)

Morax Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(10) 5 3+ - 4+ 20 10/12 140 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (1)

Greatax Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(40) 5 3+ - 4+ 25 21/23 240 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (2)
- Dwarven Ale 10

Skulks Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(10) 6 5+ 5+ 3+ 8 9/11 75 Base Size: (25x25mm), Bows (Range 24"), Crushing Strength (1), Vanguard

Trolls* Large Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Horde(6) 6 4+ - 5+ 18 14/17 190 Crushing Strength (2), Regeneration (5+)

Gore Riders Cavalry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Troop(5) 8 3+ - 5+ 8 10/12 120 Crushing Strength (1), Thunderous Charge (1)
- Blessing of the Gods 25

Krudger Hero (Inf)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 5 3+ - 5+ 5 12/14 130 Hero (Inf), Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (2), Individual, Inspiring

Krudger on Slasher Hero (Mon)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 7 3+ - 5+ 10 16/18 235 Hero (Mon), Crushing Strength (3), Inspiring
- Wine of Elvenkind 40

Godspeaker Hero (Inf)
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 5 3+ - 4+ 2 10/12 75 Hero (Inf), Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (1), Fireball (9), Godspeaker, Heal (2), Individual - Heal (2) 10

WarDrum Monster
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
(1) 5 4+ - 4+ 3 -/11 80 Crushing Strength (1), Great Thunder, Height (1)

Varangur (Evil)
Sons of Korgaan Infantry
Unit Size Sp Me Ra De At Ne Pts
Regiment(20) 5 3+ - 5+ 20 16/18 220 Base Size: (25x25mm), Crushing Strength (2)

Both sort of do the same thing, and really both probably suffer from a lack of chaff to redirect enemies. Is that still a thing in KoW?

Help me Dark Lord Salvage! You are my only hope!

Nooo, don't help him

Looking forward to trying out KoW, we'll have to get Polonius over sometime too, he's a veteran at it!

 Wehrkind wrote:
Both sort of do the same thing, and really both probably suffer from a lack of chaff to redirect enemies. Is that still a thing in KoW?

Yea, chaff is still important, particularly in objective games. But they do fairly similar things to WHFB: ablative deployment drops, warmachine hunting, mucking up enemy charges (you don't really redirect as much as block charges), etc. A change from WHFB is that KOW chaff is better at opportunistic combats - in WHFB, your five warhounds could flank that block, but really what will those 3-5 attaks do? Versus your tundra wolves doubling their attaks in KOW, or tripling in the butt.

I could try to make up some more stuff about chaff, but I rarely make room for it myself. 2k is so tight that I plonk for hordes first, support monsters and characters second, and never quite get to much chaffing

On the lists, they really are quite similar. The Varangrr feel a little stronger at first glance? But really just because I know what the minis look like and have faced a lot of the list's elements before (Chimera Kings being my absolute bane, particularly with regen or +1 DEF). It's smart and cool to torque the list over to Orcs, and there's some fantastic support in that list (WarDrum!), I just don't have much experience against Orcs. Like none.

- Salvage

Good to know I am not too far off base I am pretty excited to get the Sorchimera on the table, and will have to find points for Regen or +1 Def.

The main problem with Orcs is that 25x25 bases make hordes REALLY wide. The last (only) game I played I found maneuvering was sort of awkward. I will have to see if I have some 20x20 horde bases around... or have RiTides cut me some

Ok, quick technique update here. RiTides and I played, he posted a pic, it looked cool. I learned things, etc. I also painted a thing, Tanith the Feral Song, for the journeyman league, didn't win best painted, was sad. All that for later though.

I learned something new today.

For a while now I have been using my Dremel rotary tool with a black nylon polishing brush to buff and clean metal models. I read somewhere that it makes the models hold paint better as it takes off any oils and other crap left over from manufacturing and constantly caressing them before wistfully replacing them in the box to collect dust on the shelf. I don't know that it does help the paint aspect, but damned it if doesn't make them look really pretty.
Anyway, I was buffing the tools on some burly men today, and for some reason I saw a half primed metal model and thought "Let's put the nylon to that!" I don't know what I was expecting, maybe remove some paint or something. Turns out it didn't. Even though it was a really light airbrush priming that was only half done (it was a model being primed as I had extra drops of paint I didn't want to waste) the paint stayed on, about 90% anyway.
What did happen though is that the paint job got polished smooth. Glossy smooth. Intrigued, I picked up a 90% base coated model and gave it a whirl. Buffed the paint to a gloss, and only pulled off a tiny bit on one edge (and another edge where I bumped the model with the spinning chuck...).

I then tried it on a pvc Wrath of Kings werewolf. There the paint came right off, along with a little plastic, but I kind of expected that since the nylon will abrade away pvc. I tried it on a resin model, and as long as I was gentle it didn't take off any paint. I didn't have a HIPS model to test it on, oddly enough.

Still, that was quite interesting! It never occurred to me to try and polish paint jobs before. Honestly, it probably won't again, except in the case of a dusty application of spray primer. I don't have any models facing that calamity around that I can see (except for my Warpborn Alpha from a few photos up) but as soon as I get some time I will try that out. Just having a solution to dusty primer syndrome would be great.
I also want to try it out on some faces where the paint and washes had some build up that left noticeable marks. Again, I can't think of any models off hand that have that issue, but I know I have some around here somewhere.

Anyway, just was kind of excited about this new application of a favored tool, and had to share!

That's interesting! Not quite sure of the best application but another example of dremel solving any problem, even one you don't have yet

Cross posting for the win! Put this in the Dakka Society of Painters thread.


Ok, dug out my box of mid 90's models, and snapped some pictures. When I say mid 90's, I mean it; I was collecting for the Battlesystem Skirmishes game, which was printed in 1990. Also, I was 10, so be kind




Some tiny 25mm guys. Those are all 20x20 mm bases. Also note that I had discovered black washes as a technique at some point, and, well, moderation is not my strong point.




Mighty monsters! Gnolls and bugbears! So big they require a 25x25mm base! That red haired bugbear was one of the last things I painted before I stopped for about 10 years, and the other bugbear is one of the first things I painted.

Also, note Billidum the mighty hill giant there! Rocking a 50x50 base, he towers over everything. For all you young guys who wonder why the hell every game puts monsters on a 50x50 base in the rules despite no model actually fitting on it, well, blame scale creep and unwillingness to change the standard expectations of rule sets older than you are.



I actually remember his name: Brilliante. (Actually I remember every named character's name, except for that Gnoll back there.) I am not sure about the scaling of the horse, but it was really cool at the time to have a model in both mounted and dismounted form.


So that's the old stuff, here's some new, and a mix.



Tanith there was painted the other week, the barbarians over the past year or so. Looks like I still like really dark schemes, but in my defense, Tanith was lighter before I sealed her. Not sure what happened there. Note that the RBG barbarian and Bones girl there are a lot closer to the old 25mm scale than Tanith.



Billidum also skips leg day. Skipping leg day has apparently been a tradition since... ever.
I am really tempted to repaint Billidum there and use him as a counts as Mulg.



Anyway, a little closer look at the newer stuff.



I think I am going to strip some of the 50-60 odd models I have from those days and do a direct comparison. I probably have enough for a decent Kings of War army of sorts. Some of the models are pretty cool, especially some tiny goblin wolf riders, and some human lancers.

Also, here is a small mod I did for RiTides the other week. Rorsch got a new barrel on his pig iron, and the minotaur replacing Brine got chain wrapped fists instead of a sword and shield. They came out pretty well! Better than the pictures I have for them did


I'd have sword I had a primed picture, but I guess not. Those lads should be painted up by RiTides' painter soon; hopefully he will cross post here

Absolutely love the big minotaur conversion for Brine

A nice trip down memory lane, but yeah, you got a Lot better at painting . What's that sweet RBG mini on the right going to be used for - a character of some sort for the barbarian hordes?

That's a good question. I had him around when I was going to start painting skin baring barbarian things, so he and bones girl there were just one of the practice models, alone with the lanyff I have been using as a Blood Weaver Night Witch. I suspect he will hold a place as some sort of champion in an eventual historical celt army for KoW or something. Really at this point it is less of what he is for, and more a question of "Which of the 2000 other models he would look good with will I make into an army first." Maybe he will be a Frostgrave character? Who knows.

Wow is that conversion crazy! I love it, haha!

Really cool to see your old work. Shoot, at 10 I think I was still sloppily assembling car models (no primer, barely cleaned stuff... man it was a mess xD)

Always neat to look at old projects like these and see how far you come as a painter.

Thanks man, glad you like it Doing stuff for RiTides to get passed along to you has been a good exercise for me, keeping me active. All that fur for boar men has been great practice for the barbarian queen I am working on

And man, while I didn't have primer back then (or know about it apparently), whatever the hell I was sealing those guys with might as well be a 2 mm thick layer of glass. After 2 hours in the sonic washer, I had to resort to acetone to strip off some of that crap. Looking forward to giving them a new coat!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Huh just realized I missed a few...



I love those tiny little kobolds there... I have like 20+ of the old metals around. Those will be sweet to get on the table. Someday.

Those old AD&D orcs are pretty nice too. I need to get some new paint on those lads too.

What's your usual go-to method for stripping - sonic washer with simple green? I assume acetone is a "metal only" method.

Yea, 480 seconds in a sonic washer with Simple Green concentrate does the trick on 90% of models I find. Leaving them in there over night covers most of the rest. It is also good for cleaning mold release off stuff, and cleaning glasses I find.

Acetone is metal only, though come to think of it I should test out how it works on the resins I use. At 1$ for a shampoo bottle size, acetone is a really great tool for it.

Wow, that's so fast - I always just let it soak in simple green overnight. Will have to try the ultrasonic cleaner!

Quick battle reports time. I got two games in last night at Huzzah's journeyman league. Lists were 50 points. I ran:

Tanith
-Pureblood
-Stalker
-Gnarlhorn
-Argus
-Gorax
Reeves, min
Stones + UA
Lanyssa Ryssal Mah Nyssyle

First game was against Menoth. Old guy just like me, learning his army and Mk3. We played on 1 hour death clocks just to keep ourselves focused on time, which was a really good plan I think. He had something like this:

Reznik 1
-Jack with two flaming fists
-Jack with Mace and open fist
-Little jack with spear, shield and arc node
-Little jack with flame thrower
-Big OMFG character jack
Choir
Some caster dude with two body guards
Some solo that reduced casting costs
Wrack
That bloody fething book (more on that later)

The scenario was a 12" circle zone in the middle to control, with the caveat that only battle groups matter for control/contest.

I took second turn, because I have played Menoth once.

Menoth 1: His unpacking was a little awkward, but the jacks mostly ran forward, then realized he forgot to have the choir passage them, so rewound and did that (I completely missed which choir thing he picked). Generally everything just scooted forward.

Circle 1: I moved up a little more carefully than I might have, getting just about every beast toeing the zone, with Admonition on Goatly, Scything Touch on Stalky, Reeves on the right flank, Ghostly in the middle with Goatly, and just about everyone within the stones. Then I remembered that I had a gorax in my list... called in the mulligan and had him "deploy" and walk up, which actually put him where he was supposed to be anyway. Frank's a good guy.
Pro-tip: Choir will always put Passage (no non-magical shooting) on every damned thing. Don't move your Reeves forward to shoot the flamey jack without putting the Pure Blood's animus on them first. Derp. Fortunately I was smart enough to spread them out well.
Lanyssa earns her paint job by zapping one of the weapon master body guards down to 1 hp.

Menoth 2: Reeves payed the price for my mistake, but only one actually got killed. More Passage, jacks moved forward to get all up in the middle of the zone.
Caster man sprays Lanyssa, catches his wounded body guard, kills him, then misses Lanyssa. It was funnier for me than it was for him, but still pretty funny all around. You could distinctly hear the sound of a "World's Best Boss" mug smashing to the ground.

Circle 2: I figure it is feat turn. I can Argus slam robo-mace, Gnarlhorn slam fisto-roboto back into the character jack, follow up and smack him down, then have the Stalker zip over and kill the flamer jack. Should work out, right?

Well.... Argus slams like a champ. Tanith activates, pops her angry stick shot into fisto-roboto (I am really loving that thing), flicks Affliction on it, Primal's the Stalker, puts Wraith Bane on a Reeve (Learning!) camps 1. Goatly slams forward for free into Fisto, hits, does a ton of damage from collateral extra dice. Then I am informed that the book prevents knockdown. Well... poop. I think about it for a bit, but figure the Gnarlhorn is a goner anyway, so he follows up and just beats the piss out of fisto-roboto, leaving him with just a few boxes, and no cortex. Reeves fiddle around putting some damage on the flamer jack. I then realize that the Stalker will be out of Tanith's control if he charges (so not used to 6 Fury casters), but fortunately the stones can teleport Tanith over a bit to fix that. Stalker charges and.... misses a 6. A few bought attacks later and the thing is dead, but the Stalker is full and can't Sprint, so he's flapping in the wind.
Lanysssa, feeling froggy, charges over to try and kill the other body guard and block a charge or move to the argus or gnarlhorn. Her luck runs out and she fails to hit.

Menoth 3: I am definitely losing a number of beasts this turn, because nothing is knocked down, but there is that annoying Shadow Bound and crippled jack blocking things up to the Gnarlhorn. This turns into a rough order of operations exercise for my opponent, and we have both used about 40 minutes of clock. He needs to try and pin my gnarlhorn down despite admonition, kill the Stalker with either Reznik or the character jack, and tie down my caster.
Mace-jack walks up to the Gnarlhorn, who Admonitions back a bit, keeping the Stalker in his counter slam area.
Spear and shield jack charges my gorax, does a little damage, and gets Tanith in spear range.
Shadow Bound jack is no longer in combat with anyone, gets repaired, still does nothing (I think he messed up there somewhere, as I don't understand why all that happened like it did.)
Next though is the killer mistake: Reznik activates, tries to cast Brand of Heresy or something (boosted everything vs a model) on the Gnarlhorn, but missed. Which hardly matters, because Rez then charges the Stalker, only to be counter-slammed by a Primaled Gnarlhorn. It comes down to me rolling a 6 to hit (Mat 6 + 2 vs Def 14), Gnarlhorn connects for lots of damage, follows up, and that's pretty much it. He calls the game there, as Rez was out of Focus, knocked down, and nothing could kill the goat before he Frenzied for lots, and then Reeves would pick Rezzy apart if there was anything left.

We decided to play it out if he hadn't screwed that up, and had the character jack walk up first to engage the goat and stalker. Character jack Threshers, smacks down the goat hard, tags the wolf for a little. He then buys on the wolf, but even with back tricks can't kill him. Rez charges the wolf and kills him with 1 Focus to spare. That would have left me in a bad place, but fortunately I never had to figure it out!

All in all, fun game. Some points:
1: Admonition on a Gnarlhorn is fun.
2: I am getting better with Tanith, but I need to practice her feat turn more. I don't know that I did a lot wrong, but I felt that I could have done a lot more right, like toss a Rift out there to slow down enemy jacks.
3: I need to remember that Menoth just denies things like knockdown and non-magical shooting. I also need to remember I can fix that shooting business.
4: I want an infantry screen, and maybe Reeves are good for that.
5: Lanyssa needs to not be on a flank. (She got splattered by the weapon master.) Her move and Hunter's mark has a better range than any of my beasts can charge with it, so there is no reason to have her out there.

Game 2: Cryx

The next game was with the battle box Bane caster.
Bane Witch Agathia
-Slayer
-Slayer
-Jack with harpoon
-Jack with gun
-Bone jack
Full Mechanithralls with Stitch things
Min Banes

His deployment was odd. Bone jack and mech thralls were off on one flank, banes on the other, with the heavies all stacked in the middle.
I had first turn.

Circle 1: I move up cautiously, putting everything either behind a wall, a stone or a Earth's Blessing Gnarlhorn (can't be pushed or knocked down etc) to avoid the harpoon. All except for the Argus who was up in front of the reeves, just out of range of the banes.

Cryx 1: So, this was surprising. Caster allocated a bunch of focus to the harpoon jack, cast Hellwrought on the shooty jack for +2 armor, then feated and failed a charge forward. His whole army was Stealth, Ghostly, and at the end of their activation his battle group could teleport 3'.
Mech thralls and company run up into a woods on my left in tight formation. The harpoon jack moves forward, takes a shot at my argus with boosted to hit, then rolls a 2 for damage so it doesn't crack armor, and he isn't pulled. Whoops. Banes run forward, because what else can they do? They engage the argus and one Reeve.
A slayer runs forward to engage the argus and the same reeve. He might have attacked and missed, but really he did nothing.
Another Slayer runs forward to engage my Gnarlhorn. I admonition to the right, he teleports to follow. Ok.
Shooty jack runs forward to just a few inches behind the slayer and Gnarlhorn. Ok....
Bone jack scoots forward with Mech thralls.

Aaand.... that was it. Ok...

Circle 2: Well. Alright. I don't know why all that just happened, but I can deal with it.
Gorax puts Primal on Goatly. Goatly activates, walks around the slayer to engage him and the shooter jack, and throws the slayer into the shooter. Shooter can't be knocked down, but both take some damage, and Gnarlhorn buys a head butt into the slayer.
Tanith then activates and feats, putting a Shadowbind shot into the knocked down Slayer and the shooting jack. A Rift takes out 3/4 of the Mechthralls and the stitch thrall things. Admonition goes back on Goatly, and I think I put Affliction on the shooy jack just in case, before camping 1. (I wanted to afflict the banes, but was just out of range.
Lanyssa hunters marks the knocked down Slayer (so much insult to injury, I know).
Stalker charges the Slayer, claws him to death with the charge attack, then slams 4 sword shots into the shooting jack, leaving him on 2 boxes. I am debating whether to Sprint away and soak a free strike, but then I realize he had moved his jacks so far forward that my Stalker was actually still inside my shifting stones triangle. Stalker buys an attack and kills the jack, then the Stones port him over to the right behind a wall and still in the stones (important plot point).
Argus barks to slow down banes, and combo-bites a chunk out of the Slayer.
Pure blood walks over, barks really loudly, and knocks off a chunk of slayer and two banes.
Reeves forgot about stealth and didn't shoot anything.
At this point I broke off the staff arm of my Shifting Stone UA. I then ended turn.

Cryx 2: That didn't go like my opponent expected. He was pissed about the Argus thing, and apparently didn't realize I had Rift on the caster, but really I wasn't sure what his plan was with those jacks as it was. Anyway, the Harpoon jack moves over a bit to be out of counter slam range, closer to the Slayer, then tags and pulls the Gnarlhorn over to him, putting some pretty significant damage on him. The Stalker kills the argus after some work and bane help, with one bane killing a reeve (just one, thanks) and another bane engaging the Gnarlhorn who Admonitions away. The bone jack charges him for some more damage, but not much. Mech thralls stagger out of the woods, put one damage on a stone, miss Lanyssa, and flop on the Goat.
The dice were not great this turn, but even if they had been, I was fine trading the goat and a stone and Lanyssa for whatever. And it was about to get worse.

Circle 3: Well, this wasn't going to be pretty. Goatly Frenzies into the Bonejack and smacks it pretty hard. Or was dead. I don't recall actually... hardly matters.
What did matter was that there was a bane ~1.5 inches from both jacks, who were both within ~9" of the Stalker. Those who play Circle on a regular basis know where this is going...
Tanith activates, boosts a Angry Stick shot into the bane, Shadow Bind's both jacks and kills the bane. Something else happens, with her... maybe Rifting down a few more Mechs.
Gorax activates, Primals the Stalker, then walks over to kill two Mechs. Reeves kill all but 2 Banes.
Then the magic happens. Stones teleport the Stalker with Primal and Scything Touch up. ("Wait, so he can charge through guys?" "Nope, Stones teleport.")
Stalker activates, warps Strength, and proceeds to slam effectively Mat 8 Pow 22 (dice + 5) shots into Jacks sitting at Def 10. Both jacks die, Stalker puts on Sprint to move over and threaten the caster.
Pureblood does.... something or other, probably kills a bane.

Cryx 3: Basically on tilt now, my opponent tries to figure out what just happened, and what he can do now. He runs his chicken jack past the Stalker, realizes he would take a free strike, adjusts and runs him past a Reeve, who then free strikes the chicken to death. Mech thralls, flail on something, to no effect.
He decides that the Stalker has to Frenzy either the Gorax or Super Reeve there, so long as he clears LOS, so the caster moves out of LOS but still in the zone (I think one CP was scored all game) and a bane charges Super Reeve. Then misses. That Reeve's name is now officially Christopher.

Circle 4: Stalker frenzies into Christopher, and like a naughty horse, puts him on the ground hard. Tanith moves up, boosts a Shadowbind into Agathia, then camps 3 Fury. Gorax mosies over, Reeves put a few shots into Agathia, Pureblood as well. She is still sitting on ~5 hp.

Cryx 4: Agathia goes for the assassination, and actually comes really close. He forgot to shake Shadowbind, but in any case charges Tanith, then spends 1 to teleport behind her. It is now 6's to hit, dice -3, 5 focus. Hits 4 times, misses 2, with Tanith transferring all but one hit.

Circle 5: Tanith turns around, and smacks a fully boosted Angry Stick strike into Agathia, gets the crit shadowbind, and wins forever.

So, that was strange... I really don't think that jam with the expensive things strategy was workable. He almost pulled off the assassination, but with 3 transfers and plenty of healthy beasts it was super unlikely, even with better dice. He blamed dice and not knowing about Rift and how crazy Stalkers are, not playing since Mk1, which is probably fair. He had some really bad rolls, but honestly not where they mattered a great deal (for instance, even if he broke the stone with thralls, the stalker still had the charge. I just would have had to move things out of the way a little more.

Also, honorable mention to the now one armed Stone guy. I don't remember when, but at some point after losing his arm he smashed down two Mech thralls and the bone jack with a crit Stone Hammer, first one EVER in like 5 years. He didn't kill the jack, but did kill the thralls for funsies. He then charged the bane that was trying to kill Christopher and put him in the dirt with boxcars for damage. So he deserves to get his arm back, and hopefully has served as an example for the rest of them.

Things I learned:
1: Cryx jacks are squishy, but a little hard to hit. But really squishy.
2: Banes are annoying.
3: Shifting Stones are still good, but perhaps only against newer players.

I enjoyed these a lot, with things like imagining your expression finding out about the book . Congrats on the wins, looks like you're doing well in the league!

Glad you liked them That was indeed a learning... experience

I am doing alright, but only have like 7 games in 4 weeks, so it is sort of irrelevant. I got my ass handed to me in the first week by a Khador player, and in the second week by a merc player. In my defense, the merc player even pointed out that having Ossrum in the starter box with the option of taking Alten and Kell Bailoch the second week was absurd. He rather trivially removed the Pure Blood from 16" away top of turn 2. Didn't even know what to do... pretty sure nothing other than keep him > 20"?

All in all the games have been good, a really pleasant crowd over there, even when they are feeding you your teeth

So hi. Got a birthday party tomorrow, then some other work for the weekend, so it will be quiet(er) here for a bit, but I wanted to share some pictures of what has been happening.







The first two are sort of obvious. That last one is a character from WoK, then a... tree monster from Mierce and of course a character Lanyff from Rackham. Oh, and a little familiar dude there.

The big guy on the left is looking sweet

We'll see how you feel when he grabs a hold of your lizard and chokes the gak out of it.

er..... gator man. When he gets a hold of your gator man.

It kind of bugs me that he looks down so much, but he has big claws and horns, so Riphorn he is! I have another model I might use, but I have a ton of work to do on it, and this dude fits the Drune look nicely.